Revoke Forest officials’ nod for tunnel road, say greens

‘Mountain complex vital to conserving forest, wildlife in Wayanad’

E.M. Manoj

KALPETTA

Environmental organisations have urged the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and State Forest Department to reject the recommendations given by the South Wayanad and Kozhikode Divisional Forest officers for the construction of the proposed Anakkampoyil-Meppadi twin tunnel road, an alternative to the Thamarassery Ghat Road linking Kozhikode and Wayanad districts.

In a letter to the MOEFCC and State Forest Chief, the leaders of the Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshna Samithi said the reports, uploaded in the Parivesh portal of the MoEFFCC, recommending the project was only to protect the vested interests of some political masters and the construction mafia. As the recommendations were against the basic concepts of the department to conserve forest and wildlife and as it would adversely affect the forest and wildlife in the region, it should be revoked, the organisation said.

The proposed tunnel will pass under the Camel Hump mountain complex, but the biodiversity in the region was yet to be studied well as many parts of the complex were not easily accessible. However, the complex has been playing a vital role in determining the microclimate of the hill district, rain and monsoon pattern in Kozhikode, Malappuram, and Wayanad districts.

BirdLife International had identified the region as an important bird and biodiversity area in the country and one of the priority sites for conservation.